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Lastinger Listening Tours
Since its establishment in 2002, the UF Lastinger Center has hosted four statewide Listening Tours that provide insights into improving learning outcomes for children, enhancing educator knowledge and skills and supporting educators as they serve our children.
NEW!
2026-2027 Lastinger Listening Tour
Florida’s educational ecosystem depends on a complex data lifecycle that informs individual student support, classroom instruction, school improvement strategies, and instructional and policy decision-making statewide.
The 2026-27 Lastinger Listening Tour creates a structured opportunity to surface real-world needs, challenges, and expectations around data systems, needs and use.
Who’s involved?
Serving as part of an ecosystem that supports positive child learning outcomes requires that we incorporate and understand as many perspectives as we can.
Listening Tours are designed to support connections with and gather perspectives from a wide variety of stakeholders including:
- students & families
- educators, including school & district leaders
- education foundations & associations
- parent teacher organizations
- community & business leaders
- non-profit organizations
- legislators & elected officials
How does it work?
Listening Tours are made up of a series of events in multiple locations across the state of Florida. They include a variety of ways to hear from stakeholders, from one-on-one and group interviews, to surveys and round table discussions.
Once information gathering is complete, Listening Tour perspectives are analyzed, incorporated into Lastinger Center strategic planning, and shared with educational leaders, policymakers and elected officials to advocate for positive changes to our education system.
Past Lastinger Listening Tours
2023 Math Tour
In order to advance the quality of mathematics education in Florida and beyond, the Lastinger Center team traveled from the Panhandle to the Florida Keys over 10 weeks to hear from students, teachers, community members and education and policy leaders, which resulted in key findings and policy recommendations.
2020 Virtual Tour
The COVID-19 pandemic brought rapid and dramatic transformations to education. Using over 5,000 survey responses (in English and Spanish), interviews and policy reviews, the Lastinger Center provided key findings and considerations for educational leaders to support future improvements in a post-pandemic landscape.
2018 Director’s Tour
Upon being appointed the director of the Lastinger Center, Phil Poekert embarked on a six-week Listening Tour to do a pulse check on the successes and challenges of education – from cradle to career. This Listening Tour covered nearly 3,000 miles and 20 counties in Florida to ensure the Lastinger Center’s work is aligned to the needs and realities of who we serve.
2002 Inaugural Tour
Founding director of the Lastinger Center, Don Pemberton, established the Lastinger Listening Tour in 2002 to intentionally bridge the gaps between Florida’s university academics, school systems and local community leaders. This tour identified the challenges faced by teachers and students.